Day of Whine and Roses : Valentine’s Means Overworked Merchants, Panicked Shoppers
Perhaps no other gift-giving holiday so inspires desperation, last-minute panic and hasty decision-making as the Day of Love.
St. Valentine’s Day, America’s annual celebration of all that is romantic, is also the day of the procrastinator, the shopper on a deadline.
For merchants, the day mixes pleasure and pain--the joy of added profits with the difficulty of dealing with hordes of shoppers all trying to buy a heart-shaped anything at the exact same time. Florists, chocolatiers and gift store owners may do more business at Christmastime, but people actually plan for Christmas and don’t try to cram all their shopping into just one day.
“We get people banging on the door at 8 at night,” said Debbie Onoye, manager of the See’s Candies store in Simi Valley. “If you haven’t bought by that point, you’re out of luck.”
For candy stores, the approach of Valentine’s Day means longer hours, especially if the shop makes its own sweets. At the Atelier de Chocolat in downtown Ventura, owners Audrey and Ben Gaffney have been putting in 12- to 15-hour days during the last week, with Ben Gaffney cranking out hand-made chocolate motorcycles, trucks, champagne bottles and, of course, truffles.
Business started picking up on Monday, Audrey Gaffney said, and should be booming today, with impulse-buying customers lined up outside the door of the narrow shop.
“This is a very fast holiday, because everyone waits until the last minute to decide what to do for their sweetheart,” she said.
Ventura’s Ashwood on Main florist usually uses a single delivery van to shuttle flowers to homes and offices from Camarillo to Ojai. During the weeklong Valentine season, the shop will use four vans to make a total of 200 to 300 deliveries, about five times the normal amount, said co-owner Richard Smith.
Although the number of customers picking up roses and other floral arrangements also increases, Smith said, people still prefer the surprise delivery.
“There’s always a real excitement when a driver comes into an office, and the secretaries gather around and try to guess who [the flowers] are for,” he said.
Flowers remain the staple Valentine gift, Smith said, because their beauty is inherently romantic. They are also far better than some alternative presents.
“We had one guy come in once in a real panic,” Smith said. “The year prior he had faxed his wife a picture of a dozen roses. That didn’t go over real well.”
Some brave souls, however, seek out less-traditional gifts. Cheryl McMahon of Agoura Hills stopped at the Body Shop in Thousand Oaks Tuesday to pick up some vanilla-scented massage oil for her boyfriend.
“He’s a new boyfriend, and I want to try something new,” she said. “I’ve never given a massage. I thought it would be romantic.”
Other amorous shoppers apparently had the same idea. Store manager Elisa Johns said the massage lotions had been selling well, despite the products’, uh, personal nature.
“People can come in and get that because we have other things here--we don’t just have massage lotion,” she said. “They feel they can get that without being too forward.”
The lotions also have the benefit of being somewhere in the mid-range of gift prices. Love, or at least the material expression of it, can be expensive in a season when the price of a dozen long-stemmed roses jumps from an average of $45 to as much as $90 or more.
Some tried and true gifts can be had without too much monetary strain. See’s Simi Valley store charges $12.50 for the traditional one-pound box of chocolates. A teddy bear dressed like a bee that carries a red heart inscribed with “Bee Mine” goes for $12 at Robbie’s Hallmark in Thousand Oaks.
Of course, Valentine’s Day can also inspire more generous spending. Street Scene limousine service in Thousand Oaks has its entire six-car fleet booked tonight, said Assistant Manager Windy Krause. Although the service offered a special, $145 Valentine package--use of the car for three hours, plus Valentine balloons from the driver--many customers rented cars for a full eight hours, costing about $320.
A limo ride to an evening on the town, Krause said, is both romantic and safe.
“It adds to the surprise,” she said. “And especially with the laws being tougher on drinking and driving, this is really the way to go. Because people do tend to drink a bit more on Valentine’s.”
But some prefer simpler holiday gifts. Doug Maletz of Agoura Hills bought his wife some bath soap, skin lotion and a cushion for the tub.
“I’m a tax accountant, and I don’t get home much this time of year, so I wanted something personal,” he said.
To celebrate the day, Maletz said, he planned an evening with his wife and three daughters. “I’ll take all four of my girls out for dinner,” he said. “And if I have time, I’ll write a poem, too.”
